Orcs can’t build houses and think strategically? No way! This building strategy game puts an end to such prejudices!
What is the first thing you think of when you hear the term Orcs? Do you see the countless bloodthirsty abominations standing outside the walls of Minas Tirith? Does the bestselling novel by Stan Nicholls come to mind? Or do you beat your chest in front of the screen and shout at the top of your voice “For the Horde!
There’s one thing you’re probably not thinking of: build-up strategy! But this is precisely the genre into which Orc Warchief wants to transplant its legendary fantasy favourites. Why the orcs are now going among the house builders, what you can expect in terms of gameplay and why the emotion of fear is a resource, you can find out in the coming lines.
The Great Comeback of the Orcs
The story premise of the game already sounds exciting and turns the classic good-versus-evil perspective around without further ado: World War I in an unspecified fantasy world did not end well for the orcs. The proud warrior people live on the brink of destruction and are still hunted mercilessly like animals by the vile humans.
But you no longer feel like being in the victim role. As a young war chief, you therefore decide to start the great comeback and go to war to reclaim the lost land piece by piece. Since a campaign requires not only courage but also lots of soldiers and weapons, you also have to prove your skills as a city builder.
How does Orc Warchief play?
The project Home Reclamation logically starts with the fact that you have to rebuild your destroyed settlements. To do this, you need lots of resources, which your subordinates diligently procure. Wood must be chopped, stone mined and game hunted.
Once you have built a base, you must fortify it with barricades and watchtowers to protect it against enemy attacks. Only then should you think about your offensive. You can train warriors, equip them with weapons and other items and even build war machines.
Houses, workers, warriors – but all this settlement life comes at a price, because another valuable resource is food. After all, orcs in film and literature are not exactly known for watching their waistlines. So you always have to make sure that there are enough supplies to fill up, otherwise you won’t be able to make a comeback. With the other resources, too, it is important to keep a balance between expansion and population supply.
I’ll drill maggot holes in your belly!
Settlement building is all well and good, but at some point the people should finally get one in the face. Once you have fortified your settlement, equipped the troops and made all the battle plans, you finally enter the open battle.
The slaughter and assassination is not purely an end in itself – although orcs are quite simple – but gives you another advantage in the game: fear. Sounds simple, and in fact it is. The more human settlements you raze to the ground, the greater the fear of your strength among the enemies.
This reputation gain brings a steady influx of more Orcs to your settlement, eager to join you. The growing population unlocks more buildings and special units. But beware: Always remember that you have to feed the hungry mouths as well! And besides, the more powerful you become, the harder the people will fight back.
Another help could also come to you from heaven. No, we don’t mean heavy rain, but gods. If you worship them and gain their favour, you will be rewarded with forbidden powers that will also help you in your aggressive expansion plans.
Who might like Orc Warchief?
If you’re into strategy and building games, it shouldn’t hurt to put Orc Warchief on your watch list. The mix of defensive and offensive measures needs to be skilfully balanced so that you can go into battle as quickly as possible without leaving your home behind without protection.
The small additional features such as religion or the detailed equipping of your orcs with pieces of equipment sound fun, at least on paper, and could add a few interesting facets to the rather classic basic premise. However, a big question mark still looms over all that has been shown so far: How well do the battles play?
The answer to this question will probably determine the success or failure of the title. After all, it’s all about orcs, and even if the build-up part is all well and good, the battles should definitely not be neglected either. After all, the developers themselves write on their (Steam product page): A true Orc is born and dies in battle!
It is not yet known when Orc Warchief will be released. Not even a year is given. So it might be some time before the great comeback of our arch enemies starts.
Editorial conclusion
Orc Warchief is one of those games that I would have loved to have already played for this preview. Because the feature descriptions read fun and already have me dreaming of a large-scale revenge campaign with my orc pack. But from surprise hit to cucumber, everything is still possible with this title.
After all, it’s not done with simply combining a few construction options with undemanding battles and slapping the orc stamp on it. I hope that building the settlement requires some planning talent and that the battles offer some depth. The various pieces of equipment for my troops as well as the constant balancing of my raw materials between home and the front could tip the scales here.
So I am and will remain highly curious as to when we will finally be able to try out Orc Warchief for ourselves. It’s about time that the orcs don’t always have to take defeat after defeat, but leave the field as victors. After all, the best comebacks are the ones that end with a bang.
What do you say? Do you see potential in the build-up strategy mix or are you rather sceptical in view of what has been shown so far? Feel free to write us your first impressions of the game in the comments!
